Cheese and Fruit Tray : How-To

"People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas."  -- Author Unknown

Happy New Year to everyone!!!  One of the downsides of working in a health field is having to occasionally work holidays.  This year, I actually kind of lucked out and got to work New Year's Eve (as opposed to Thanksgiving and Christmas), because really, what is there to do on New Year's eve anyway?  Not much in my town.  There were a couple of minutes of downtime, so we were able to turn on the TV in an empty room and toast the new year with sparkling juices that a co-worker brought in.  

However, we had all brought in food as well.  This was a last minute discovery for me and I had worked the night before, so I wasn't about to go home and whip up something fabulous, because I did have to sleep.  I stopped by my local Harris Teeter and wandered up and down the aisles for some time before deciding to do a fruit and cheese platter that I had pinned.  Seven Layer Charlotte had designed this gorgeous fall cheese plate which I was dying to replicate.

So, my first problem was I didn't have a fancy wooden tray into which to cram all of these delicious fruits and such.  My second problem was I didn't want to spend a small fortune.  I mean, these are nurses and doctors in the middle of work, in the middle of the night.  We are not too picky about what we are eating.  So I wanted it to be nice, but not break the bank.

I wanted a nice variety so I got a blue cheese, a smoked gouda, some cheddar slices (which I cut into smaller pieces) and some brie.  I actually thought it was a wedge of brie cheese, but turned out to be more of a brie dip.  Nevermind, it was still delicious!  I couldn't find dried figs, so I substituted dried apricots instead.  I sliced  up a stick of pepperoni, added some parmesan cheese straws and some grapes and VOILA!!!  A half-way decent spread.  I splurged and got some fancy Carr crackers and it was good to go.

Not as pretty as the one by SevenLayerCharlotte, but not a bad attempt at all.  I was kicking myself though, because I had meant to tuck in some fresh sprigs of rosemary from my garden, and completely forgot about them.

I will be going out to look for a cute tray like the one used in the example.  And if I do this for family or a close group of friends, I will be splurging a little more and getting a lot more stuff to cram in there.

From my board "Appetizers are the little things..."